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Road Games

If Alfred Hitchcock had directed "Joy Ride," it might look a little something like "Road Games," Richard Franklin's marriage of wide-open spaces and tightly-knit suspense that works diligently at getting under your skin. Stacy Keach stars as Pat Quid, a semi driver trucking a shipment of pig meat across Australia's desolate Outback. Along the way he encounters a number of people, one of them being Pamela (Jamie Lee Curtis), a spunky hitchhiker with more to tell than she's willing to. But something else is amiss as well: the Ripper-esque murders of several women that leaves Quid wondering whether or not he may have witnessed the aftermath of one such killing. Meat and girl in tow, he decides to follow the mysterious green van he's been seeing all day, all the while fending off hallucinations from lack of sleep, and cops who think he's the one responsible for the unrest. ***

Gore whores and cut-'em-up junkies take note: "Road Games" is nowhere near your territory. Franklin, who also produces, has crafted a unique little thriller that doesn't resort to the cheaper methods of shocking its audience by way of bloodshed or splatter tactics. In their place, the elements of brooding tension and suspense create an unsettling tone as we watch the events play out, coupled with some very effective humor and one of the funniest examples of backfired road rage I've ever seen that involves a semi, a boat, and the latter's very unhappy owner. Stacy Keach is ideal as the hero, while Curtis proves that her "Scream Queen" reputation isn't the only thing she's memorable for. All of this works in favor of giving us some shivers as well as some tickles; in the end, "Road Games" is far more memorable than it could have been, and makes for a nice, comfortable evening's entertainment.

Presenting "Road Games" for the first time in its widescreen glory on a home video release, Anchor Bay has done a pretty good job of sprucing up the image, with only a handful of reservations. The film's 2.35:1 aspect ratio is decent-looking in terms of color saturation and accuracy, although fleshtones could be a bit better in places. Clarity is very nice, with sharp edges that bear only some slight enhancement artifacts throughout. Contrast and shadow detail suffers the most damage, though: while the daytime sequences are nice to look at, nighttime scenes flicker and give way to some artifacts. The source print is in decent shape, too, so there is very little to complain about in the way of dirt or speckle, and film grain is kept to a surprising minimum. All-in-all, very satisfying considering what could have gone wrong. ***

The sound, although billed as a monaural track, actually sounds more like 2.0 Stereo. It could have just been bleed from the center channel, but it sounded better than I had expected. Dialogue sounds somewhat natural throughout, while the sound effects aren't as harsh as other older tracks I've heard. It gets the job done, though, so that's saying something at least.